King Of Limbo

Many believed he was going to torture the Drakar once its back turned into a massive bloody mess, and on the surface it appeared that was the case.

As he had done with the wings, Aron continued without pausing as he put his palm to its shoulder and roughly tore it away from its arm.

While the creature was slowly and painfully dying, he continued to do this to all of its limbs. It could not rest until he returned to its back and tore out its spine.

Aron continued to grasp the bloody spine in his palm and turned to face Jagu and Jin.

"Their bones are relatively strong so they should make for good temporary weapons."

He turned away from Jin and Jagu while they were still contemplating what he had just spoken and confronted the remaining Drakar.

"I'm done, you can leave and take the remaining corpse with you."

The Drakar was left stunned by Aron's tranquility as he left the area.

Aron's actions didn't make sense to Jagu as a Komi who pondered until he heard him say it. 'He butchered the other one to instill a great sense of fear and spared the other so as the message can be passed on to the entire race...'

Upon realizing this, Jagu experienced a dry mouth.

He was familiar with it because his people had similar customs in which they would mount the heads of their adversaries in an effort to inspire terror and foster pride.

However, even those who were seen as barbaric weren't so vicious as to torture or mount live bodies in order to create that terror.

Jagu became even more in awe of Aron for being able to complete such a feat without feeling regret. Jin, on the other hand, remained silent and simply moved closer to one of the limbs.

His new weapon was in fact hidden beneath that substantial pile of meat. When it came to this act of savagery, Jin saw something wholly different than Jagu did.

'He's using this to test if any of us are weak minded.'

Like Jagu, Jin was astounded by the scene, but he made sure not to show it, keeping a neutral expression even as Aron observed them.

He believed that Aron would view them as a burden in Limbo the moment they demonstrated a lack of mental fortitude.

It only solidified that belief to have traveled with him for a period of time that would be equivalent to a month and a few days in Pesia.

In that time together he could understand why Aron was the way he was if he had grown up in Limbo. He would have run into serious difficulties without Aron because it was so severe and merciless.

Rose cast a quick glance at Aron as he moved over to the edge of the mound they were on and dipped his hands into the water to wash the blood off his body while Jin and Jagu approached the limbs of the Drakar.

Evanora was perhaps the only person who appeared unconcerned in any manner, whilst Mrah and Kalel turned away and covered their ears while their bodies shook in fright.

"Why are you still here?" The Drakar was still alive and yet frozen in place when Jagu grabbed for a limb, his horror still clearly visible in his eyes.

He was stunned until Jagu's cold tone jolted him out of it, causing him to bolt to his feet and flee.

Aron allowed it to do so, but it couldn't even be bothered to pick up the fellow Drakar's remains; instead, it fled without turning back because all it felt was terror.

Before turning to continue, Jagu took the longer bones from the beast to use as weapons while pitifully watching it run.

....

No matter how worn out he felt, the fugitive Drakar kept running without the courage to turn around and continued to run for an unknown period of time.

"Manuvv!! Kalar!! Anyone!!" He screamed incoherently as he ran; these were only his poor attempts to try to get someone's notice.

He wished with every fiber of his being that one of his fellow Drakar was nearby because only then could he begin to feel a little more at ease.

Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful in getting an answer no matter how many times he yelled out. He was alarmed even more by the fact that all he could hear was the sound of his voice reverberating through the unsettling woodland.

He had to shout out more than fifty times before he finally heard a voice.

"Who goes there!" The Drakar stopped running and started looking up in dread as the voice resonated from above.

"Here! It's me! Otuo." He promptly gave his name because, upon hearing a voice from above, he assumed it was someone of his kind.

His supposition was accurate, and luck was finally on his side because soon after he responded, another Drakar landed into the marshy woods, wings fluttering frantically.

"Otuo, you're alive? How? What happened to you? Upon witnessing one of his own in such a terrible state, the Drakar that had just landed unleashed a flurry of inquiries.

"There's no time! Manuvv--where are you? He must show up! Otherwise, everyone will perish! " Otuo urged in a crazed manner.

"Graaaaaah!

"

The descending Drakar nodded at the anxious Otuo as it hovered just above the swamp and let out a loud upward roar.

Before the sound of flapping wings could be heard in answer, numerous other such roars reverberated.

They accomplished this at an astounding rate considering that hardly any time had gone.

The largest and most impressive-looking of the flying wings belonged to the one with the name Manuvv, who turned to face the awkwardly shaped Otuo, who was still shaking.

He groaned as though this was the first time he had ever seen such a terrible situation.

A lost wing, a broken face, gaping wounds, and obvious dread were all present. Manuvv worriedly inquired, "What happened?," his previous hostile demeanor having evaporated.

...

Otuo continued by detailing every last detail of what had happened since he had awoken in Aron's captivity.

The more the Drakar in the area heard, the more their wrath gave way to concern.

Manuvv was possibly the most difficult to read because he didn't communicate his thoughts or feelings right away; instead, he simply listened quietly while looking menacing.

The huge commander was told every tedious detail Otuo had to offer on Aron, but this wasn't enough for him.

After much persuasion, he was able to persuade Otuo to bring the group to the location of his near-fatal accident.

However, they only discovered their buddy Drakar's deformed remains there and no one else.

Some of the others' dread was simply heightened by this, but Manuvv was just filled with intense rage toward Aron. Nevertheless, he came to a reasonable conclusion.

"Let's return and report this... it'll be bad if we encounter more of them."

And just like that, Manuvv suppressed his rage and decided to go in order to protect his people, not realizing that doing so would simply give his adversary more time to develop his strategy.

...

They were unaware of the scouter watching them through the dense undergrowth of one of the larger trees as Manuvv and his gang took to the air while carrying Otuo.

Even while instilling fear was the major goal, Aron wouldn't just let an escapee go; following him was another.

Now that they had this information, they could use the scouter to follow them in case Otuo had lied about their territories.

Everyone appeared to be a little more at ease than before now that the Drakar had left.